Yoshi's Hotel
Yoshi's Hotel & Casino, formerly known as the Stratosphere Hotel, Casino, & Tower and the Koopa Palace Hotel & Casino, is a Japanese-themed resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip, just south of the Luxor Resort & Casino, east of the West Strip, and west of the Mirojiory Casino. The casino was built as the second resort in Las Vegas, and opened as the Stratosphere Hotel, Casino, & Tower on December 10th, 2013, with an observation tower, and multiple dining and retail spaces. The casino went through renovations in late 2014, including the demolition of the hotel's original shopping promenade and replacing it, which later eventually turned into a front entrance. The Stratosphere Casino closed in mid-2015, and reopened on June 29th, 2015 as the Koopa Palace Hotel & Casino, and the observation tower would keep the Stratosphere name, and function independently from the casino resort. On December 30th, 2015, after less than a year in business, Koopa Palace shut its doors after only six months in business. In May 2016, progress began on interior demolition of the Koopa Palace, and was completely modernized. It reopened on June 3rd, 2016 as the Yoshi's Hotel & Casino. During the casino's operation as Yoshi's, many new casinos were built, as they were influenced by the major redesign of Yoshi's in 2016. In July 2016, a new 32-room guest tower was added to Yoshi's. It later closed in September 2017 for renovations. The tower reopened as Hotel Nikko at Yoshi's Las Vegas on October 4th, 2017. History Stratosphere Hotel, Casino, & Tower (2012-2015) After the opening of the Luxor Resort & Casino in 2012, it was planned immediately after the Luxor opened, that a replica of the Stratosphere would be built on the site directly to the south. Construction moved slowly throughout 2013, and the casino topped out late that year. The casino opened on December 10th, 2013, as the second resort to open in Las Vegas. The casino featured a walkway to the Luxor, as well as a tram. The observation tower also featured a sky jump, similar to the the one on the real Las Vegas Tower. The resort received its first modernizations in 2014, which included new restaurants, and an improved design of the public walkways. The resort originally featured a mini, single story shopping center. As renovations continued into 2015, construction began on a two story shopping mall, which never completed. The Casino and Hotel portion of the Stratosphere closed its doors in early 2015, while the observation tower was split from the main casino for a separate entrance. Koopa Palace Hotel & Casino (2015) The resort received more renovations during the closure, and the shell of what was going to be the shopping mall was used as an entrance to the casino. An extra floor was added to the top of the hotel tower for an extra penthouse level. The Stratosphere reopened as Koopa Palace on June 29th, 2015. After only six months in business, Koopa Palace shut its doors on December 30th, 2015. Yoshi's Hotel & Casino (2016-present) At the beginning of 2016, Koopa Palace was renamed to "Project Yoshi's". It was planned to completely renovate Koopa Palace, but it took a while to finalize the design for the new hotel. In May 2016, Koopa Palace was completely gutted, to prepare for a modern transformation. The unprecedented redesign took weeks to complete. Yoshi's finally opened to the public on June 3rd, 2016. The redesign completely modernized the casino, with design elements of bedrock, iron bars, end stone, and netherack throughout the casino. The hotel immediately became a success. Two days after opening, an uncompleted project by Hyatt Resorts was demolished to make way for a new guest tower expansion to Yoshi's, which opened as the Skyrise Tower in July 2016, and the original hotel structure was named the Casino Tower. A theater was built at Yoshi's in July 2016, for the Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil show. The show operated at Yoshi's until February 2018, when the show moved to Hyatt Regency Resort & Casino after 17 months. The show had previously been held at Luxor Resort & Casino. In early 2017, the casino went through its first renovations since opening as Yoshi's in June 2016. By February 10th, 2017, all of the original casino areas and the Casino Tower had been renovated. The renovation was set to move to the Skyrise Tower, but after two hiatuses of the Las Vegas Map, one between March and May 2017 and then again between May and September 2017, the renovations never completed for the Skyrise Tower. The Skyrise Tower closed in September 2017, and reopened on October 4th, 2017 after a complete renovation and the Skyrise Tower began operating as Hotel Nikko at Yoshi's Las Vegas. Yoshi's was renovated again for the second time between November 2017 and February 2018.